i feel like you

i feel like you
that doesn't mean that i feel as if i like you
it means i feel about as you feel
but not completely
i don't wake up groping for the keys to your car
in my pocket or anything
i don't feel like that
now i'm not sure what i mean
or how i feel about it
so forget it
how do you feel about that?

listen, some of the stuff i write is crap
i know that, that's what writers are good at
the point is
it's not like i'm hiding it
i put it out with a purpose
two more, juliano. yeah, the red.

like you, i can recognize a good poem
and wonder how many did emily dickenson or robert frost leave buried in a drawer
sarah teasdale, i like her work also
geeze, i mention a couple of poets and feel like i've got to keep naming them

what i want to say is that
everyone has a different voice
every poet makes that choice
and when words work hot it's a kind of magic
when not - more like deforestation - nearly tragic

we'd learn if we could read
the partial poems the poets put aside
examine what was rejected
those things the great ones let slide
most often go undetected

so now this one is lying there like road kill
so enjoy it like sneaking through someone's refrigerator